The Lights Are Out in America
The Lights are out in America and at the White House. The leader of the free world is essentially missing. In times like these, we have become accustomed to seeing the president stand and inspire a nation to come together. That hasn’t happened and I doubt that the entire country would listen if the president attempted to address the nation.
It is against the backdrop peaceful protestors marching through cities nationwide, police erupting in violence against protestors, and protestors closing in on the Whitehouse, I find myself feeling blessed to be safe and indoors these last 10+ days with my wife and three children.
We are safe, kids are fed, and they are enjoying the relative security of knowing there are no police launching flashbangs, tear gas, or shooting rubber bullets at people in their own yards in our neighborhood. Yet, I feel unsure about our overall safety. I feel unsure about remaining safe and secure in a country where my skin color makes me a threat to many of those who are supposed to protect and serve.
I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t see this coming. I would be disingenuous if I said this wasn’t in the back of my mind on November 8th, 2016. I would be untruthful if I said I never expected to see such unrest. Sadly, I’ve long assumed this was the trajectory that we were on as a nation.
Now that we are here, what should I say? What should anyone say?
It’s not like blacks don’t have enough to think about with the unchecked spread of the Coronavirus all over the US. It’s a bit of a double whammy for blacks as Covid-19 has only magnified the systemic inequalities that persist in the United States. We know that blacks in the US are dying at disproportionately higher rates compared to all other ethnicities.
As of May 26, 21,878 black Americans are known to have died due to Covid-19, according to an analysis from the American Public Media (APM) Research Lab. To make matter worse, APM compiled its data from only 40 states and the District of Columbia that are reporting the race and ethnicity of those who have died of Covid-19. What about the other 10 states?
Being a black man in the US, this affects me personally and is a great concern as I think about my family, how to stay safe, and how to continue to provide.
The lights are out on Black America.
Then came the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police. This atrocity hurt all of us, so now mourn. I wonder if this will be the final straw. Is this the act that will pull the majority to action? It certainly feels different this time.
Most of us have been calling for police and justice reform for decades. Colin Kaepernick knelt for this very cause. He knew what would eventually happen. I knew what would eventually happen. Many of our white brothers and sisters knew what would eventually happen.
The lights are out in America.
Even though times are dark and the lights are out, something feels different this time. It felt different when Amy Cooper was exposed. She understood the privilege that she would be afforded as a white woman when calling the police on a black man.
She explicitly said, “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.” She knew exactly what that meant. She knew that by merely mentioning skin color, she would be seen as a person in imminent danger and that the police would likely approach the situation with the often-used heavy hand against this innocent black man. People were outraged. Rightfully so.
Where do we go from here? A good first step was to see charges brought against the four officers in the George Floyd murder, but will we see convictions? That’s notoriously difficult in our justice system. Will we see a complete overhaul of the Minneapolis PD?
Will other police departments follow? We have seen a few great examples of police working with the protestors, examples such as Chris Swanson. Or, will we see thousands more normal everyday citizens protesting police brutality in our nation. The lights are out in America.
While the lights are out in America, I will not stand idly by. To quote the rapper, Killer Mike, I will “plot, plan, strategize, organize, and mobilize” for my family, for my business, for my city, and for my country.
I ask you to do the same and let’s turn the lights bank on, in America.
I know many want to help out and make their voices here and are considering giving to various organizations. While I won’t specifically advise against that, I think providing a hand up to a black-owned business would go much further. Grab a cup of coffee from the local black-owned coffee shop one day a week instead of dropping by Starbucks each weekday.
Maybe even stick around and talk to a few people. In that local shop, you’re much more likely to hear and learn about what’s going on in your community and how you can become an ally. If you work for a larger corporation and wield any influence at all, advocate for a black-owned business.
There are contracts worth hundreds of billions of dollars for work at Fortune 1000 businesses in the US and often times these businesses continue to award work to agencies and consultancies that often miss the mark. Sometimes repeatedly.
There are tons of black-owned and operated agencies that are skilled in their niches and can help in a multitude of ways. In my opinion, a hand up goes a very long way and has a huge multiplier effect on the community.
This article was originally posted on my personal blog.
ABOUT DEDRICK
Dedrick is an avid traveler and kid wrangler who made his way up from literally nothing, however, Dedrick has always had a bulldog mentality. Once he sets his mind to something, there is nothing and no one who can turn him away. Dedrick has been in the software industry and was building applications that streamed massive amounts of data in Java back in 2002; long before streaming was a term that the majority of Americans understood. Think satellite TV data volume. Since then he’s had his hand in saving several companies millions per year with spend management techniques. He has delivered a new way for customers of a global footwear and apparel giant to purchase products resulting in a 2 Billion dollar increase in revenue in the first year of using the new system. He has also delivered an updated login and registration sub-system for the same global footwear and apparel giant, resulting in a nearly 85% reduction in black market purchases (bot-purchases that end up being resold on eBay) of high profile footwear products. This new sub-system, also allowed the overall B2C eCommerce system to handle massive amounts of traffic during high-heat launches.
